MAN ARRESTED FOR TRYING TO
SELL FIGHTING DOG

Friday, July 29, 2011
—Bond has been set at $30,000 for a Wisconsin man who brought a pit bull across state lines to sell for dogfighting, Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart announced Friday.

Al “Boogie” Clemons, 54, of Racine, Wisconsin, has been charged with one count of felony selling a dog for the purpose of fighting. He appeared in Maywood bond court on July 27th.

In mid-July, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office Animal Crimes Unit received confidential information that Clemons was seeking to sell a 41 lb. female fighting pit bull. An undercover officer contacted Clemons, and was told the dog had already won two dogfights, and that she had a bloodline of champions. Clemons described the dog’s fighting style as “face fighting”, meaning the animal attacks the head and face of her opponent in order to incapacitate it. According to Clemons, the last fight the dog was in lasted 45 minutes, but she ultimately prevailed. Clemons and the undercover officer agreed to a price of $1500 for the pit bull, with Clemons delivering the dog on July 26th.

Clemons met the undercover officer at the Miller Meadows Forest Preserve in unincorporated Maywood. Other officers were on the scene, providing backup in a surveillance van. Before the transaction was complete, Clemons attempted to show the undercover officer the pit bull’s fighting skills and aggressive nature, by “rolling” her on a chain with another fighting dog present. After several minutes, and before the fight could get violent, the undercover officer gave the signal, and police on the scene arrested Clemons. The pit bull was relinquished to the Cook County Sheriff’s Police and has been turned over to the Animal Welfare League in Chicago Ridge.